“I hope you brought your appetite. I made your favorite dessert too.”
“You know it.”
I shut the door behind him and went to the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase while Brody took his boots off, my hand shaking the whole way.
Slowly, he wandered into the kitchen, looking around the room before he sat down on a stool at the island. In the few seconds he had already been there, I felt completely comfortable and totally at peace.
“What can I get you to drink?”
“I’ll just have water right now, please.”
I poured two glasses of water and set his down in front of him, my eyes meeting his. I could feel the tension in the air.
“So, how have you been? How was your day?”
“Quiet. First quiet day I’ve had in a while. Yours?
“It was good, busy,” I smiled.
Suddenly, Missy let out a loud meow and jumped up on the stool beside Brody.
“Who is this?” Brody asked, reaching out and petting Missy behind the ears. She rubbed against his hand, purring loudly.
“That’s Missy, we kind of adopted one another.”
“Is that so? Well, hello, Missy.”
“Yep, she has lived with me for a couple years. I found her outside the front door two years ago at Christmas time. I wasn’t going to let her in, but the weather was so bad, she probably would have died out there. She was just a baby, I think someone may have dropped her off. So, I brought her in, gave her some food, and from then on, we became best friends.
“She’s a lucky cat to have picked your door.”
“Tell me about it,” I laughed. The room got quiet again as our eyes met. I watched his eyes travel my body which made me feel uncomfortable, knowing he was checking me out.
“So, are you still writing?” Brody had been super supportive of my career after Jackson died, always wanting to help, but unlike Jackson, he had never seen what I truly went through while trying to write because, by that time, my career had already started to die. He never saw the endless hours I’d spend staying awake while trying to meet a deadline or how stressed I’d become over a new release.
“I am,” I lied. Well, it wasn’t really a lie, it was more like the half truth. “Just before you got here, I had a couple emails back and forth with another author about an anthology I’m working on.” As soon as the words fell out of my mouth, I instantly regretted them. I didn’t want him to know the truth. “I’m also working on a pretty complex storyline for another book, and I had to ask my editor for a bit of an extension. Good thing she’s flexible,” I laughed, hiding my eyes from him, taking a sip of my water. That was a total lie.
I could feel his eyes following me as I walked to the fridge to grab the bag of carrots. He knew I was lying, I knew it. I had never been a good liar and didn’t know who I thought I was kidding—myself or him.
“Well, I’m sure whatever it is, it will be great. Care to share with me what it’s about? It will be like old times, I always loved listening to your ideas.”
I closed my eyes, afraid he would ask. Good thing my back was to him, so he couldn’t see the sheer panic on my face—I had literally nothing to share with him. I cleared my throat and started peeling the carrots. Just as I was about to start to make something up, the oven timer beeped.
“Time to baste the chicken again.”
Grabbing the hot mitts, I opened the oven door and quickly basted the chicken. As soon as I was done, I placed it back in the oven, closed the door, and turned to throw the mitts on the counter across from me, but instead, I came face to chest with Brody. He placed both hands on each of my arms.
“Can I help with anything?”
I looked up, studying his eyes. I was afraid to look for too long, fearful he would be able to see everything I was hiding. I instantly became lost in them. It had been so long since I had looked closely into those gentle blue eyes, and I had missed them.
“You look tired, Cass, maybe you should take a load off. Give yourself a break.”
I let out a restricted laugh, I could feel myself starting to crumble. “A break? I wish I could take a break, Brody, a whole lot of breaks, but I can’t. I just have a lot on my plate here, things you don’t understand.”
“What do you mean?” His voice was soft as he ran his hands down my arms, pulled the oven mitts from my hands, and placed them on the counter, his hands returning to mine.
I shook my head and tried to pull out of his grasp to turn away, but he gripped my arms and kept me facing him. As soon as our eyes met this time, I could feel my lips start to quiver. He felt so safe to me, and if his persistence kept up, I would be a puddle in his arms, and I didn’t want that tonight. I just wanted to spend time with him, getting reacquainted. Our gaze was so intense. I felt his hands loosen their grip, and I pulled away from his comforting touch. I turned away and went back to peeling the carrots, but I could still feel the heat from Brody’s body standing behind me. It was comforting, and instantly, I started to calm down. He reached around me, his chest pushing into my back as he grabbed my hand that held the peeler, his touch sending shock waves through me.